Smoky, it is

 The past couple days we have been getting heavy smoke from the Elk Fire by Lake City.  Last night some stars were visible, but smoke was obscuring portions of the sky.  In spite of the poor conditions, it was an opportunity to try out a new Move Shoot Move Nomad star tracker.

The camera was an OM-5ii with a Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 lens. 

 

Sparkle-6 filter.  Heavy smoke on the southern horizon

Sparkle-6 filter.  Heavy smoke over Bristol Head (left lower corner)

 Here is a picture of the Nomad star tracker:

The Nomad star tracker is the small rectangular box.  It mounts on the lower ball head, which is used to set polar alignment.  The camera is mounted on the upper ball head.  The unit performed extremely well in this initial test. 

 

 

 

More darkness

 The northern sky brightness last night was 21.68 mpsas.  This is nicely dark.  There was some wildfire smoke in the air, but it did not seem to have a significant effect on transparency.

The following images were obtained with a Sigma 56mm f/1.4 lens, some with a Hoya Softon diffusion filter, some without.

 

The constellation Delphinus. Softon filter.

Delphinus is currently high in the sky in the late evening.

constellation Corona Australis. Softon filter.

 The constellation Corona Australis is low near the southern horizon.  The dark shadow in the lower left of the image is the ridgeline of Snowshoe Mountain.

 

The Milky way in Scutum.  Softon filter.

The Milky Way in Scutum.  No filter.

Southern Scorpius.  No filter.

This view of the southern part of Scorpius shows two open star clusters (M7 and M6) and two emission nebulas (NGC 6334 and NGC 6357).

A closer look at M7 and M6:

M7 (LL) and M6 (UR)

 The asteroid (8) Flora is making a close pass near the star Ross 154.  Ross 154 is the seventh nearest star system, and Flora is the nearest large main-belt asteroid (about 145 km across).  The following two images were obtained on Monday and Wednesday and show the progress of Flora relative to Ross 154.

Monday night.  Ross 154 (red circle), (8) Flora (turquoise circle).

 

Wednesday night.

An exceptionally dark night

 Last night astronomical twilight ended near 10 pm and the Moon did not rise for another 45 min.  Between those two times the sky was exceptionally dark.  The SQML meter pointed at the northern sky above Polaris measured 21.84 mpsas.  It rarely gets darker than that.  Even better, none of the neighbors had porch lights blazing.

Two lenses were used: a 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fish-eye for wide views of the Milky Way and a Sigma 56mm f/1.4 for narrower views. 

 

In the middle image above some small puffy clouds were lingering near the zenith.  In the bottom picture the Andromeda Galaxy appears just over the cabin roof.  Some faint green airglow is visible along the northern horizon.

 

The section of Sagittarius displayed above was captured with the 56mm lens and a Hoya Softon filter.  The circle just above center marks the location of the asteroid (8) Flora and the star Ross 154.

Here is a closer look:

Ross 154 (solid red circle), asteroid  (8) Flora (dotted turquoise circle)

 The asteroid (8) Flora was discovered in 1847 and is the closest large main-belt asteroid.  It is currently at magnitude 9.7 and 10.7 light-minutes distant. 

Ross 154 is a magnitude-10.4 red dwarf that is the 7th closest star system at a distance of 9.7 ly.

On the right-hand side of this image is the globular cluster M22, which is 10,000 ly distant.

Region in Sagittarius just above the Milky Way core.

 

A brief look at the Milky Way

 The Milky Way has lately been mostly obscured by the bright Moon and cloudy nights.  Last night there was a brief interval between the clouds dissipating and the rising of the waning Buck Moon.  This image was obtained with a 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8 fish-eye lens.  Moonrise occurred about 20 minutes earlier, but the Moon was still well hidden behind Snowshoe Mountain.   The sky, however, was already turning blue with scattered moonlight.

 

A solar storm hit the Earth the same day, but there were no auroras visible from Creede at the time (10:45 pm) this photo was taken.  Here is a photo of the Sun taken earlier in the day:

02 Aug.  Apertura 60mm ED f/6 refractor

 

Buck Moon rising

Until the Moon rises, Venus is still the brightest object in the night sky.  It shines brightly at magnitude -4.1 in the west during twilight.

Venus setting over Bristol Head

 The full moon of July, which occurred yesterday, is known in some cultures as the "Buck Moon". The following images were obtained with a 60mm f/6 refractor and a 1.5x MDB (Magic Dakin Barlow).

Full Buck Moon rising over Snowshoe Mountain

 Thin clouds created a corona around the rising moon.

 

Moony Milky Way

 Early Tuesday evening the 8.0-day Moon was visible through slight haze.

 Near midnight the Moon was setting behind the Bristol Head ridgeline while wrapped in clouds.  There was mostly clear sky in the opposite direction, but it was still glowing blue with scattered moonlight.

Milky Way and Summer Triangle

 

Pegasus rising, with the Andromeda Galaxy (circled)

These last two images were obtained with a Panasonic Leica 9mm f/1.7 lens + Hoya Sparkle-6 optical filter.  A digital 3x3 median filter was applied in postprocessing.

The Moon is back

 Lots of rain and cloudy weather lately—given the ongoing drought, that's a good thing.  There was a brief view of the waxing crescent Moon and Venus during Saturday-evening twilight.  Near midnight, the sky was clouded over.

5.1-day Moon and Venus, 18 July.

 Sunday evening was a lot clearer early on, but it was still mostly cloudy again near midnight.

6.1-day Moon, 19 July

 The image above was obtained with an Apertura 60mmED f/6 refractor.  A 1.5x Magic Dakin Barlow (yes, that's what it is called) was installed near the flange of the Olympus E-M5iii camera to give an effective focal length of 555 mm (1.54 magnification).